


The Other Side of Me

by EryiScrye (SomberSecrets)



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Animals, F/M, Soulmates, finding each other, stocking stuffer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28405599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomberSecrets/pseuds/EryiScrye
Summary: One day your soul animal just appears. They say your soul animal is there to eventually lead you to your destined person. But most now think they are there so you get to know your soulmate... before you know your soulmate, good and bad... andall.Well, if Brienne's soulmate is anything like her soul lion, then he's a temperamental wank and if Jaime's soulmate is anything like his soul elephant, then he already adores her completely.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 94
Kudos: 247
Collections: JB Festive Festival Exchange Stocking Stuffers 2020





	The Other Side of Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Julieoftarth (Wherethereissmoak)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wherethereissmoak/gifts), [majicienne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/majicienne/gifts), [angelowl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelowl/gifts), [ChaoticDemon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticDemon/gifts).



> Thank you to Slips for being the bestest and organizing Chillfest and also looking through this to make sure it wasn't a mess of tenses.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this fic Julieoftarth, angelowl, and ChaoticDemon, and majicienne!

If she is being wholly and completely honest, her soul lion is a bit of a temperamental wank.

One moment he is scratching at her couches and chewing on her shoes, making a right nuisance of himself around her apartment by knocking everything of hers off of every surface - all of her glasses and plates are now unbreakable or plastic - and the next he's the biggest snuggle bug ever, who won't stop trying to groom her unruly hair with his sandpaper tongue. She's _sure_ he's the reason her hair is like this in the first place. She doesn’t remember having nice hair, and she doesn’t remember her life before him.

There are days where her soul lion won't stop caterwauling no matter how hard she tries to shush him and because he’s her damn _soul_ lion, she can’t bloody get away from all the racket he insists on making. Not at work, not while out on her run, not while eating either, and the one time she broke down and wailed right back at him to see how _he_ liked it, he _had_ actually liked it and had simply gotten louder.

But then there are also the days where he knows when she is feeling down and puts his head on her lap, nuzzles her in all the right ways, and lies by her side so that she will always know that she has somebody who will always care for her. On the days she needs him to behave most, he _will_ sit obediently by her side, not making a sound and will only roll on his back, squirming at her feet, demanding tummy rubs after.

Brienne knows that her soulmate is supposed to closely resemble her soul lion, but gods, if they are actually anything alike, she has no idea if she’d actually want to meet him. Or at least that’s what she thinks when she has her noise cancelling headphones on and trips over him in the hallway because he’s always sprawled in the most inconvenient of places. But when she’s cuddling her rumbling, affectionate soul lion in bed though and he’s not being such a dick, she thinks that maybe she wouldn’t mind meeting her soulmate tomorrow.

* * *

If he is being wholly and completely honest, he quite adores his soul elephant and completely understands why Cersei is so obsessed with the animal even though his soul elephant hardly acts like real elephants do. He's never told her that his soul animal is an elephant; she might actually kill him in her jealousy if he ever did. Plus, even though they’re twins and have shared many things, there are some things they still like to keep to themselves, and their soul animals are one of them.

His soul elephant is very stubborn, much too serious, and hesitant with her affection. Yet somehow she still charges headlong into ridiculous situations. The most ridiculous of which was when she got her head and ears stuck outside after peeking too far out from his penthouse window. She had only wanted to take in the new view - one which he had hoped that she would enjoy and was the reason why he had purchased the place - and had somehow forgotten that: one, she could change her size, and two, she was basically noncorporeal. It had taken him several hours to realize that something was wrong, since the only sign of her agitation had been the swishing of her tail, but when she had finally slumped down on her bottom with a defeated toot, he immediately went to her rescue. Though she had stomped her feet and grunted in irritation when he had laughed the whole time while reminding her of her own properties and powers, she hadn’t been mad enough to not flop on top of him like a warm blanket that night.

Most of the time his soul elephant is thoughtful and methodical and all of the time, which even he thinks is highly absurd and commendable on her part, she cares for him in a protective, gentle sort of way. However, she hardly tolerates his more absurd antics and constantly bats him with her trunk or smacks him with her ears. Sometimes, if he has decided to do something she thinks is particularly egregious, she will even wrap her trunk around him and physically hold him still until she feels that his brain has caught up with his body. His brain is _always_ in tune with his body, it’s just that sometimes his soul elephant needs to learn to have a little fun. She _hasn’t_ learnt yet, but one day he’ll get her there.

Jaime isn’t sure how it is with other people and their soul animals, but he finds it amusing watching his soul elephant trundle along everywhere he goes. Sometimes she’s in the lead, sometimes she’s beside him, and sometimes she’s behind, but she’s always there when he reaches out for her. If his soulmate is anything like his soul elephant, then he can’t wait to meet her. This one thing is unequivocal.

* * *

One day her soul lion is suddenly short one front paw and she knows she needs to find him. Screw destiny, screw “the universe will make it happen when it is meant to happen”, she is going to find him _now_.

She doesn’t really know how to start other than to call every hospital asking if someone has recently been admitted with a missing hand or has needed a hand amputated, so she does just that. She decides she’ll start with the hospital on Tarth, just to see how well received her questions will be even though she knows for certain her soulmate isn’t on her island, and then she’ll call all of the the ones in the Stormlands, then the Crownlands, and on and on until she has all of Westeros covered. If he’s not in Westeros… well, she will need to learn how to ask a couple of questions in a few new languages and make some long distance calls to Essos.

The call with Tarth’s General Hospital goes well, apparently these kinds of questions aren’t uncommon. She isn’t the first and won’t be the last to take meeting her soulmate into her own hands. This reassures her and she starts making a list of all the other numbers she needs to dial.

There are a lot.

She sets up shop: five bottles of water, a box of granola bars, two energy drinks, and her soul lion’s head on her lap. He hasn’t made any noise all day, which is intensely worrying, and she hates that she hates it, but she does indeed hate it, and she can’t help but try to do everything she can to make him more comfortable. To her relief, by the time she’s done all of the hospitals in Storm’s End, he’s at least back to purring. Her soul lion has always been partial to tummy rubs.

It’s just past midnight when she finishes all of the hospitals in the Stormlands. Between waiting tones and being transferred to multiple departments, this is taking a lot longer than she thought it would and also her sanity is leaving her faster than she thought it would too. A kingdom a day? That’s not fast enough. She stands up carefully so as not to jostle her soul lion too horribly - he only whines a little - throws away the empty pizza box, refills her water bottles, grabs more snacks, shotguns another energy drink, and sits back down moving her soul lion’s head back on her lap and petting his mane. She knows she won’t be able to get through all of the Crownlands without having a little bit of a breakdown, but she’s sure she can at least get through all of the hospitals in King’s Landing.

The second hospital she calls, she finds him. It’s the most ridiculously posh, private hospital there is on the continent and she’s not surprised that’s where he is when she finally learns her soulmate's name. Jaime fucking Lannister.

At least that easily explains why her soul animal is a lion.

* * *

The first time Jaime wakes up he is high as a kite. His soul elephant is angry at him again and he supposes this time she has a reason to be, but he knows that she won’t stay angry at him for too long because she: one, loves him, and two, knows why he had to put himself in danger. He never would have been able to forgive himself if all of those people had been hurt because of his inaction.

For a moment he wonders what is being said about him on the news, but then he decides he doesn’t actually care when his soul elephant toots morosely by his side and wraps her trunk tenderly around his stump of an arm. She knows why he did what he did and really, that’s all that matters to him.

The second time he wakes up, he is in much more pain and there is a very tall woman who looks like she hasn’t slept for days at the foot of his bed, a host of security guards behind her, and a bloody fucking lion in his room. The lion licks his chops and ambles closer to him, but the guards do nothing about that. No, the guards are focused on the woman instead of the beast, and why are they not more wary of the fanged and clawed beast?

And the woman, the woman is… Jaime traces her line of sight.

She is staring at his soul elephant.

And his soul elephant is staring right back.

His eyes snap back to her, then down to the lion who is now sniffing his bandaged stump. It looks up at him, gazes at him, and he can’t help but stare back. Something inside of him seems to finally click into place, like when two puzzle pieces snap together, like when the tumbler of a lock falls. The moment only breaks when the lion raises a paw… or what should have been a paw, and places its stump beside his.

Jaime wants to cry.

He looks back at the woman.

She’s finally looking back at him.

She’s his soulmate.

And she found him.

* * *

He’s discharged from the hospital, but he’s been put on bed rest, which means that he wants to be anywhere but in a bed. She takes him back to her home, back to Tarth, and he demands that they go see one of its famed meadows.

She is constantly exasperated by his insistent need to defy doctor’s orders and how much attention he demands. He thinks she needs to live it up a little more and is much too stubborn.

She cries when she finds out why he lost his hand. He cries when he finds out that it had taken her less than 24 hours to find him.

They are exactly how they expect the other to be.

Jaime’s head is in her lap as the wild flowers around them swish in the wind. Her hand combs through his hair and he nuzzles into her stomach.

“Where are they?” he asks.

“Over there,” she replies.

“What are they doing?”

“The same as us.”

Their soul elephant and soul lion love to cuddle together too.

**Author's Note:**

> Please see[ knifeears absolutely ADORABLE art](https://knifeears.tumblr.com/post/636099008973193216/brienne-as-a-gentle-giant-elephant) which inspired the soul animals for this fic and how they are cuddling at the end.


End file.
